Michael Steele Claims Trump Is the Candidate Not Doing Media, ‘So Let’s Stop’ Criticizing Harris

MSNBC’s Michael Steele insisted on Friday that it is former President Donald Trump who is avoiding the press, not Vice President Kamala Harris .

During an appearance with MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing , Steele dismissed questions about why Harris does not do more press conferences or engage with the press as much as her opponents. According to Steele, Harris is more focused on local media efforts in swing states, and he accused Trump of not doing any deep-dive interviews, but instead mainly relying on rallies and press conferences to get his message out.

Steele argued:

“If I can get in a local media market in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, anywhere in the country, I don’t need to do a press conference. I’m talking directly to people as they’re driving home in their car on the car radio, or I’m sitting in their living rooms if I’ve done an interview with the local late-night news or whatever. We have to stop looking at this campaign through the traditional lenses. This is not that race. 107 days, she’s been doing this, and she’s got 30 more left. So at the end of the day, you’re talking 140 days to run a national presidential campaign. She’s got to be particular with her targets. If she had an extra 400 days, everybody would get touched in the mainstream media and the Democratic party. This is not the Hillary Clinton campaign of 2016, this is not Joe Biden’s campaign of 2020. I think she’s doing what she needs to do now.”

Steele claimed Harris is being held to a higher standard than Trump. The former president and his running partner JD Vance have sat for close to 70 interviews since Harris and her running mate Tim Walz moved to the top of the Democratic Party ticket. Harris and Walz have sat for a couple dozen by comparison.

“I don’t see Donald Trump doing sit-downs and press conferences with the mainstream media every week. So let’s hold her to the same standard we’re holding Donald Trump because Donald Trump is not giving you anything except a rally in which he dribbles and nods off and just goes off on tangents, and the press accepts that, and yet they look at her and say, well, how come you’re not, you know, giving us more of what we want? Well, as soon as you get it from Donald Trump, she’ll give it to you,” Steele said.

The former Republican National Committee chairman told Democrats to stop worrying about press hits and focus on overwhelming the ballot box on election day.

“Democrats need to stop acting like Democrats, get your behind on the ground, organize, turn out your vote. You need to overwhelm the ballot box on November 5th, because that’s the end game,” he said. “Don’t worry about a press conference today. You need to worry about how many voters you’ve got turning out on November 5.”

Watch above via MSNBC .